sick day
by not a straight trumpet
Summary: Kumiko wasn't quite sure what to expect, when Reina showed up to visit her that day. or; what should've happened in 2x08


**a/n:** things we did not get in that episode: reina pressing her forehead against kumiko's, the two of them falling asleep on each other

things i have put into this fic: reina pressing her forehead against kumiko's, the two of them falling asleep on each other

* * *

Kumiko had thought she was dreaming, when she saw Reina sitting in her room, the sunlight catching her features in the most perfect way as she tapped away at her phone. She had almost been expecting Reina to slip away like sand between her fingertips when she woke up, just a figment of her imagination and perhaps a teddy bear clutched too tight, but she still remained even when Kumiko had rubbed the last of the sleep from her eyes.

"Reina?"

Kumiko couldn't find it in her to move from the bed, the coziness tempting her back in every time she felt even the slightest motivation to get up, and Mamiko's sudden near-tantrum at the euphonium CD hadn't helped. The CD itself now sat safely in its case, tangled somewhere in the bedsheets.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Reina offered, still looking towards the door as if expecting Mamiko to barge in again.

"That's good."

"Hmm?"

"I don't want to talk about it. You said I didn't have to."

"Right." Reina shifted in her spot. "Are you any feeling better? Your voice was hoarse yesterday, you looked about ready to collapse on your feet."

"I was," Kumiko chuckled, Mamiko forgotten for the moment.

"And now?" Reina prompted. Kumiko shrugged.

"W-well, my throat doesn't feel like it's on fire anymore, so I guess that's an improvement? I'm still really tired, though." Reina leaned forward, and Kumiko wondered if it was the fever that was making the room suddenly feel much, much warmer. She didn't even notice that Reina's forehead was pressed against hers for a few seconds.

"You're still warm," Reina said matter-of-factly, as if she wasn't a few inches away from Kumiko's lips, as if Kumiko wasn't finding herself short of breath for reasons unrelated to her current ill state. "I really should get going, I wouldn't want to keep you awake for the rest of the day when you should be sleeping. We'll need you back for Nationals." Reina stood up, leaving a current of cold air where Kumiko had gotten used to her presence.

"Wait," she mumbled.

"What is it?"

"Don't . . . d-don't leave. Please."

"Okay." Reina sat back down on the bed, tentative. Her jacket was still wrapped around Kumiko's shoulders, just a bit too small for her. "Do you need help studying?"

"Hrm? Yeah, I guess." Kumiko wouldn't have admitted it, not in a thousand years, but she had hoped for some sort of quiet moment, perhaps the two of them simply living in each others presence (she never would have admitted it, but she missed the softness of an hour ago, when she had woken up to Reina looking to her).

"You're still behind on this concept," Reina muttered, more to herself than to Kumiko, looking at the tightly scribbled notes in the margins of Kumiko's homework.

"Yep." Kumiko couldn't really deny it, not when it was very, very true, but there was still an odd pang of guilt in her gut, and she chalked it up to the cold getting the best of her. "I've, uh, never really been one for math, if we're b-being honest."

"Why not?"

"It's like another language, except it's all just _concepts,_ it doesn't _mean_ anything, at least not anything important. I know that we need to know some of this stuff for the future, b-but it's hard anyway. There's no reason to know any of this, I'm not going to be studying earthquakes or the exponential value of cars in ten years."

"Right, right."

"L-listen, my head still kinda hurts, do you think we could maybe . . . do something else?"

"Like what?" Kumiko shrugged, pulling Reina's sweater closer.

"We could just sit here." Kumiko flopped back down on her bed, looking up at the ceiling. "We've all been working really hard for Nationals, y'know? We just need a break, I think."

"Yeah." Reina leaned back, cautiously, as if she was expecting the headboard to hit her if she started to lie down too quickly.

"I still can't believe it. We're so _close,_ but it's kinda scary, too. We've gone so far. It'd hurt more than anything if something happened now."

"You're worried about Asuka, aren't you?"

"How could you tell?" Kumiko sighed. Reina let out a quiet hum before speaking.

"She's a part of your section and she invited you to her house out of the blue. I can't say I'd be entirely calm, either, if that happened to someone in the trumpets. Not to mention the fact that she's a sort of . . . glue, I suppose. She's good at everything, she's charismatic, and maybe the fact that she's really just human after all is starting to scare some people."

"What do you mean?" Kumiko had forgotten how _cozy_ the bed was, and she had to blink to keep herself awake.

"People need an idol, sometimes. Someone to look up to, a hero, a mentor, what have you. There's nobody like that in the real world, but we pretend."

"Taki-sensei?"

"Stop." Reina elbowed her.

"Hey, you wouldn't hurt a sick girl, would you?" Kumiko laughed, exaggerating her next sneeze just a bit.

"You've caught a cold, Kumiko, you're not dying."

"Oh, but can you be sure of that?" Kumiko held a tissue to her forehead, sitting up only to lean against Reina's shoulder, and Reina snorted.

"You're ridiculous."

"You're cute." Kumiko wondered briefly if the cold was worse than she thought and she was starting to hallucinate, or if Reina was actually blushing, the slightest hints of red dusting her pale cheeks. If it was the former, Kumiko couldn't really blame herself for it - the world was already starting to blur at the edges, dreamland calling her name, and the last thing she felt was Reina's hand squeezing her own, warm and comforting.

* * *

Kumiko was not expecting to wake up to Reina sleeping on her chest, spread over her like a cat and dozing quietly. The sun was still glaring through the blinds, evening still a few hours away, and Kumiko smiled. Reina seemed more peaceful when she slept - the world's burdens, the concept of specialness she so desperately chased after, the pressure, it all faded from her face.

Kumiko didn't wake her, didn't stir, and soon she had fallen asleep again.

* * *

The sun had gone down, and yet Reina was still there when Kumiko woke up again, holding her hand and smiling softly. Her eyes were closed, but Kumiko could tell that she was awake - there was a strange restlessness in her movements, in the way she would occasionally twitch, and Kumiko thought that she had never seen someone so beautiful.

"You're awake," Reina said a moment later, still not moving.

"Y-yeah."

"Do you need me to move?"

"No, no, it's fine!" Kumiko's mouth worked faster than her mind, and any last bit of sense in her screamed at her to stop, but she didn't. "This is, uh, kinda nice, actually."

"Really?"

"Well, yeah. It's . . . peaceful. I think we both needed it."

"Perhaps you're right." Reina gently placed a kiss on Kumiko's cheek before settling back into her spot.

The two girls fell asleep side-by-side once again, but when Kumiko woke up, Reina had left, leaving only her jacket and the euphonium CD to tell Kumiko that it hadn't all been a dream.

 _No,_ she thought, _this is so much better than a dream._


End file.
